thedrifter
12-02-05, 07:59 AM
Warren says he joined the Marines to ‘fight Hirohito’s crowd’
First of four parts
By L.E. brown Jr.
To understand Clarence Warren’s travels — and where he fought — in the South Pacific Ocean during World War II, it is necessary to first have at least a small understanding of the area and the United States battle plans there, especially during the early stages of the war.
Land masses in the Pacific Ocean consist of a hodgepodge of islands which have been given group names, with each group made up of several closely-linked islands. Japan, the Northern Mariana Islands, the Marshall Islands and the Philippines are the largest, or at least best known, groups in the North Pacific Ocean.
In the South Pacific Ocean are the larger islands of New Guinea and, just to its south, Australia, and close to New Guinea and to the northeast, groups such as the Admiralty Islands (New Britain, Bougainville) and the Solomon Islands (Guadalcanal, Tulagi and New Georgia are the better known islands).
The South Pacific group of islands known as American Samoa is about halfway between Hawaii — about 2,500 miles — and Australia.
American Samoa was Warren’s first stop on the way to battles in the South Pacific.
To better understand the events of that time, it is well to remember the situation during late 1941 and 1942.
Remember that the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor Dec. 7, 1941 left the naval and air power of the U.S. severely weakened and in the Pacific both naval, air and ground forces were ill-prepared. The Japanese quickly drove south, capturing Wake Island, Malaya, Singapore and the Philippines. About all the U.S. could do was to try to forestall further advances. This included re-enforcing several key islands and conducting air raids from aircraft carriers. About the only actions which could be called American victories were the naval engagements in the Coral Sea in May 1942 and off Midway Islands in June.
Historians say that, at the time of Pearl Harbor, Guadalcanal and the Solomons were not part of American war plans. But that changed when strategists saw that the Japanese South Pacific advance threatened the Allied line of communications with Australia, and maybe Australia itself, or New Zealand.
In March 1942 when a plan began to take shape for an offensive which called for an attack on Tulagi in the southern Solomons; an advance along the northeast coast of New Guinea; and an assault on the great Japanese base at Rabaul on the northeast tip of New Britain, just east of New Guinea,
The formal directive for this plan was issued by the Joint Chiefs of Staff on July 2, 1942; the operation, code-named WATCHTOWER, was set to begin August 1.
Some eight months earlier, Clarence Lee Warren, in his own words “a dumb country boy from Sampson County,” enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps, on Dec. 29, 1941. Warren, like thousands of other young American men, began training for Pacific Theater of Operations warfare.
Movement in the South Pacific as a U.S. Marine for Warren is over 60 years from today, when, at age 85, he lives in retirement with his wife of 57 years, the former Rometta Hester, a native of Bladenboro.
He was interviewed in the house in which he was reared (he moved it to where it sits today, a short distance from its original site) about two miles southwest of Newton Grove on U.S. 13. Both are retired, he as a public school teacher, she as a public health nurse.
Warren was born June 8, 1920, the son of the late Malcolm Warren and Ila Lee Warren. He graduated from Westbrook High School — there were only 11 grades at the time — and then enrolled at Wake Forest University.
Then, on Dec. 7, 1941, the Japanese raided Hawaii. War had already been going on in Europe since 1939.
Warren, lacking only one semester to graduate, enlisted in the Marine Corps “the day after Christmas” 1941 when he went to a Marine recruiter in Raleigh, but was not officially inducted until three days later, Dec. 29, 1941, at Parris Island, S.C.
Warren tells how his enlistment came about.
A lot of people he knew, he said, were “geared up,” talking of how mad they were about Pearl Harbor and about joining the military.
“One day a bunch of us boys were talking in the classroom. But it seemed it was mostly talk, so I told them if they wouldn’t fight, I would. I went to Raleigh, the day after Christmas, and enlisted.”
Warren said he was young and sort of “dumb” back then “but I have never regretted it. If I had the chance to do it all over again, I would.” Warren said he doesn’t really know why he chose the Marines. He said he didn’t know anything at all about the service branch.
“I didn’t have much sense back then. All I know is I went to fight Hirohito’s (Japanese emperor) crowd,” Warren said.
Rometta said that it appears that her husband was on one of the first, if not the first, troop transport ships sent to the Pacific after Pearl Harbor.
But that trip wasn’t made until Warren had several weeks of training under his belt.
It wasn’t until about the third day at Parris Island, recalled Warren, that he began to wonder: “What am I doing here?” As he recalls, he was at Parris Island for about 90 days (it may have been less) before being sent to Camp Lejeune, for about two more weeks of training. Training was primarily at New River or Cherry Point. The Marine base now known as Camp Lejeune was still in the formative stages.
In some ways, training was speedy, as manpower was needed in both the European Theater of Operations and in the Pacific Theater.
Next: Ship out to Pacific Theater
L.E. Brown Jr. can be reached at 910-592-8137, ext. 20, or email sicity@intrstar.net.
Ellie
First of four parts
By L.E. brown Jr.
To understand Clarence Warren’s travels — and where he fought — in the South Pacific Ocean during World War II, it is necessary to first have at least a small understanding of the area and the United States battle plans there, especially during the early stages of the war.
Land masses in the Pacific Ocean consist of a hodgepodge of islands which have been given group names, with each group made up of several closely-linked islands. Japan, the Northern Mariana Islands, the Marshall Islands and the Philippines are the largest, or at least best known, groups in the North Pacific Ocean.
In the South Pacific Ocean are the larger islands of New Guinea and, just to its south, Australia, and close to New Guinea and to the northeast, groups such as the Admiralty Islands (New Britain, Bougainville) and the Solomon Islands (Guadalcanal, Tulagi and New Georgia are the better known islands).
The South Pacific group of islands known as American Samoa is about halfway between Hawaii — about 2,500 miles — and Australia.
American Samoa was Warren’s first stop on the way to battles in the South Pacific.
To better understand the events of that time, it is well to remember the situation during late 1941 and 1942.
Remember that the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor Dec. 7, 1941 left the naval and air power of the U.S. severely weakened and in the Pacific both naval, air and ground forces were ill-prepared. The Japanese quickly drove south, capturing Wake Island, Malaya, Singapore and the Philippines. About all the U.S. could do was to try to forestall further advances. This included re-enforcing several key islands and conducting air raids from aircraft carriers. About the only actions which could be called American victories were the naval engagements in the Coral Sea in May 1942 and off Midway Islands in June.
Historians say that, at the time of Pearl Harbor, Guadalcanal and the Solomons were not part of American war plans. But that changed when strategists saw that the Japanese South Pacific advance threatened the Allied line of communications with Australia, and maybe Australia itself, or New Zealand.
In March 1942 when a plan began to take shape for an offensive which called for an attack on Tulagi in the southern Solomons; an advance along the northeast coast of New Guinea; and an assault on the great Japanese base at Rabaul on the northeast tip of New Britain, just east of New Guinea,
The formal directive for this plan was issued by the Joint Chiefs of Staff on July 2, 1942; the operation, code-named WATCHTOWER, was set to begin August 1.
Some eight months earlier, Clarence Lee Warren, in his own words “a dumb country boy from Sampson County,” enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps, on Dec. 29, 1941. Warren, like thousands of other young American men, began training for Pacific Theater of Operations warfare.
Movement in the South Pacific as a U.S. Marine for Warren is over 60 years from today, when, at age 85, he lives in retirement with his wife of 57 years, the former Rometta Hester, a native of Bladenboro.
He was interviewed in the house in which he was reared (he moved it to where it sits today, a short distance from its original site) about two miles southwest of Newton Grove on U.S. 13. Both are retired, he as a public school teacher, she as a public health nurse.
Warren was born June 8, 1920, the son of the late Malcolm Warren and Ila Lee Warren. He graduated from Westbrook High School — there were only 11 grades at the time — and then enrolled at Wake Forest University.
Then, on Dec. 7, 1941, the Japanese raided Hawaii. War had already been going on in Europe since 1939.
Warren, lacking only one semester to graduate, enlisted in the Marine Corps “the day after Christmas” 1941 when he went to a Marine recruiter in Raleigh, but was not officially inducted until three days later, Dec. 29, 1941, at Parris Island, S.C.
Warren tells how his enlistment came about.
A lot of people he knew, he said, were “geared up,” talking of how mad they were about Pearl Harbor and about joining the military.
“One day a bunch of us boys were talking in the classroom. But it seemed it was mostly talk, so I told them if they wouldn’t fight, I would. I went to Raleigh, the day after Christmas, and enlisted.”
Warren said he was young and sort of “dumb” back then “but I have never regretted it. If I had the chance to do it all over again, I would.” Warren said he doesn’t really know why he chose the Marines. He said he didn’t know anything at all about the service branch.
“I didn’t have much sense back then. All I know is I went to fight Hirohito’s (Japanese emperor) crowd,” Warren said.
Rometta said that it appears that her husband was on one of the first, if not the first, troop transport ships sent to the Pacific after Pearl Harbor.
But that trip wasn’t made until Warren had several weeks of training under his belt.
It wasn’t until about the third day at Parris Island, recalled Warren, that he began to wonder: “What am I doing here?” As he recalls, he was at Parris Island for about 90 days (it may have been less) before being sent to Camp Lejeune, for about two more weeks of training. Training was primarily at New River or Cherry Point. The Marine base now known as Camp Lejeune was still in the formative stages.
In some ways, training was speedy, as manpower was needed in both the European Theater of Operations and in the Pacific Theater.
Next: Ship out to Pacific Theater
L.E. Brown Jr. can be reached at 910-592-8137, ext. 20, or email sicity@intrstar.net.
Ellie